Kids Should Never Negotiate
by BobWhite
Summary: Full summary inside. Pls R&R 2 find out more.
1. Kleopatra Raviana Stamlin

**Full Summary:**

Kleopatra Raviana Stamlin has always loved to travel. Since she was two-years-old, Kleopatra has traveled all over the world with her father, a talented and renowned doctor. Now her mother has asked that she get to know her half siblings during the school year. How will the Camden kids deal with another sister they never knew existed? How will Eric react to finding out that Annie was married, had a kid and gotten divorced before meeting him? How will Kleopatra react to hearing tha she has seven half siblings? And how will the Camden kids and Kleopatra get along? And will Kleopatra be able to keep her pets with her?

**Kleopatra Raviana Stamlin:**

Since I was two-years-old, I have been living with my father. My mother divorced him because she couldn't handle being a mother and a wife at the age of sixteen. My father was twenty-five when he met my mother. He took responsibility of his actions and even though my mother was only sixteen, they still got married. My father told me that my mother was just too young and that she didn't know what she had gotten herself into. It didn't matter to me because I was with my father and we were traveling all over the world.

When I was twelve-years-old, my father and I were in India. My father travels for his job. He's been a pediatrician and pediatric surgeon since he was twenty-four. I have had so many people come up to me and tell me that my father is their savior. They always invite us over for dinner or prayer. My father and I are very religious but we don't have a specific religion. We have celebrated every religion in the certain countries we've traveled to. We celebrate the religion of the country that we are in at the time. Not only is my father a pediatrician, I have started rescuing animals.

My father doesn't mind because I'm old enough to take care of myself. We still live together, (same house), because it's cheaper but I'm moving out soon. My fiancé, Ravi, has a condo in New Delhi. My father approves of Ravi because we've been dating since I was sixteen.

Ravi was seventeen and I was sixteen. We met when I journeyed back to India to see Lala, the Indian Elephant I had rescued from poachers when I was fourteen. I stayed with Ravi the whole time I was in India. We got to know each other pretty well. Ravi always told me that he wanted to travel just like my father and I do. He also knew that my mother lived back in the states but that I never kept in touch with her since she basically abandoned us. At the age of twenty-seven, I've traveled to nearly every country in the world. I've been to the US, but I never stayed there for more than a month a time.

My father got ahold of me a few weeks ago and told me that my mother had gotten ahold of him and asked if I wanted to get to know her. I told him that I would give it a go for a month or two, but if I didn't like it, I was leaving. He told me that I didn't have to stay but that I might stick it out for the school year and get to know my half siblings. Knowing that I had half siblings kind of made me mad. I felt like I had been dumped so that she could get married a few years later and have more kids. More then likely, she didn't tell her new husband and family about me.

So here I am, packing stuff up to take with me. Ravi said he's coming with so that I don't feel that unwelcome. His parents said that they would take care of the condo while we were gone since we had plants that couldn't go without water. We would be taking the kids with us though. Now when I say kids, I mean all the animals that we adopted because they couldn't be released back into the wild. The two that could never go back into the wild due to one being blind and the other being deaf went with us everywhere. Selna, the chimp was deaf and Solon, the Siberian tiger was blind.

My father said (and we knew as well) that we might have difficulty getting the animals into the states but they couldn't be left alone and nobody else knew exactly how to take care of them. So they came with.

Ravi knew how nervous I was to be meeting my half siblings and seeing my mother for the first time since I was two. He also knew that we might not be welcome due to the fact that we celebrated every religion we had ever come across. We would just have to wait and see what was going to happen.


	2. The Camden Household

**The Camden Household:**

Annie had been preparing the garage apartment all week. She told the kids and Eric that an old family friend was coming to visit and left it at that. She didn't tell them that the 'family friend' was really her twenty-seven-year-old daughter that she had had when she was sixteen. She figured that that part was better left out for now. She had never told Eric that she had been married before meeting him. She hadn't told him that she'd had a daughter that she rarely kept in touch with. And she definitely didn't tell him that the baby's father was twenty-five and just out of medical school. She didn't want the kids to find out before Kleopatra got to the house.

She had gotten ahold of William Stamlin and wanted to know about her daughter. William had told her that he would have to call her back. There was no telling if Kleopatra would even want to see her due to the fact that Annie had basically left her with William. But now that Kleopatra was twenty-seven, she figured it was a good time for all the kids and family to know the truth. They needed to know that they had another sibling because frankly Annie couldn't keep it from anybody anymore.

Kleopatra and her fiancé Ravi would be arriving soon and she wanted the garage apartment to be perfect. She wanted Kleopatra to feel welcome with the Camden's house and fel a little but at home. But she didn't know how that was going to happen. William had gotten ahold of her and told her that Kleopatra would be arriving soon and she wanted to be the first person to see her before everyone got home.


	3. Kleopatra and Ravi Arrive

**Kleopatra and Ravi Arrive:**

Kleopatra sat in the passenger's seat of the rental truck she and Ravi had gotten. Selna and Solon were in the back seat lounging. It hadn't been as hard as we had thought getting them through airport security and on the planes. They had been in the same cage because they had grown up together. The airline was surprised that a Siberian Tiger and a chimpanzee could get along so well. Once in California, we got the kids and luggage and headed for the car rental building. We rented a 2008 Ford super-duty truck. It was big enough to hold the kids in and out of their cage, our luggage and anything else we bought while here.

I knew that three of my half siblings were married, but only one still lived in Glenoak. The other two lived in New York. One was at college in Northern California, one was still in high school and two of them were in elementary school. I knew that much but I was going off what my mother told my father. I was under the impression that everyone would be home from school and work when we got there, but I didn't exactly know who was all going to be there.

Camden Household:

Annie was in the kitchen making cookies, banana bread, pumpkin bread, and different dishes for that night's dinner. Ruthie, Sam, David, Martin, Mac, Lucy, Kevin, Savannah, Simon, Rose, Matt, Sarah, Mary, Charlie, Carlos Sandy and Aaron would all be there. They had come up for Christmas dinner. Kleopatra and Ravi would be eating Christmas dinner with them and would be staying as long as they wanted to get to know the family.

Annie was just putting the breads in the oven and taking the cookies out when the doorbell rang. She put the cookies on the counter and went to answer the door. As she opened the door, she was met by a couple that looked wonderful together.

Kleopatra and Ravi had with them a Siberian Tiger and a Chimpanzee. It was a surprise to see the animals but it was great to see Kleopatra as a grown woman after all those years.

"Hi, come on in. I was just finishing up some cooking if you want to join me." _Annie said._

"That would be great. Umm, this is Ravi and these are the kids. Do you mind if they come in?"_ I asked._

"Umm, sure, any particular reason you brought them with?" _Annie asked closing the door behind us as we walked in. Kleopatra's skirt was jingling and she moved like she knew who she was._

"Selna here is deaf and Solon is blind. We take them everywhere we go because nobody knows how to take care of them like we do. And they get along since they grew up together. Selna is Solon's eyes and Solon is Selna's ears. That's how they've always gotten along and it'll be that way for a long time. You know we could probably show you a few new recipes. I noticed the tree in the front window?"

"We're celebrating Christmas and dinner is tonight with the whole family and some friends."

"Have you told your family who Kleopatra is to you yet?" _Ravi asked as we sat on some bar stools._

"Umm, no, not yet. I figured it would be better to tell them together, that way the kids and Eric will understand."

"What will we understand?" _Ruthie asked as she Lucy, Kevin, Savannah, Mary, Carlos, Charlie, Matt, Sarah, Simon, Rose, Martin, Mac, Sandy and Aaron walked in the back door. They had just picked everyone up from the airport. Eric was still at the church. All the kids and family member stopped. I stood up and moved from behind the counter._

"Hi, I'm Kleopatra Raviana Stamlin and this is my fiancé Ravi. And these are the kids Selna and Solon." _I said pointing to Ravi and the kids._

"Hi…I'm Lucy. Are you the family friend that's staying for a few days?"

_I looked over at my mother and met her eyes. She nodded that it was time to tell them._

"What's going on mom?" _Mary asked._

"Uh, kids, Kleopatra isn't a family friend."

"Then who is she?" _Matt asked as Eric walked into the kitchen. He had just gotten home from the church and he wanted to see the family friend Annie had been talking about for a week straight._

"She's more of my…daughter."

_The kitchen was silent for about ten minutes before anyone said anything. And even then it was Ravi._

"Well then, now that that's out in the open, Kleo and I have some stuff to do and need to unpack. So we'll let you talk all this out. Anyone want to show us where we're staying?"

"Uh, yeah, we'll show you." _Sandy, Mac and Martin said. Aaron was in Martin's arms._

"Thanks come on Kleo. Grab Selna, I have Solon. Let's get unpacking and I'm sure your father will want to know if we got here safely. And you know how it is in Inhambane, barely any electricity."

"Yeah, let's go."

Garage Apartment:

Martin, Mac and Sandy with Aaron in her arms showed us to the garage apartment and helped us with our luggage. Once in the apartment, we made a little bed for Solon and Selna and let them lounge while we unpacked everything, put everything up and away and got ready for dinner. Martin and Mac had taken Aaron back down to the house but Sandy had stayed at the apartment to get to know us better.

"So how long have you and Ravi been together?" _Sandy asked._

"We met when we were sixteen when I came back to India to see Lala. She's the Indian Elephant that I rescued from poachers when I was fourteen. I stayed with Ravi in his condo that he was renting at the time and we got to know each other better. My father approves of him because we've known each other forever."

"You guys lived together when you were sixteen?"

"Well Kleo was sixteen but I was seventeen. My parents paid for the rent until I got a steady job, but now I own the condo and I don't have to pay for it anymore. It's insured as well. Shouldn't you be downstairs helping Mrs. Camden with everything?" _Ravi said._

"I was just about to get up and go. We'll come get you when everything is set up." _Sandy said as she got up and left the garage apartment._


	4. Christmas Dinner

**Christmas Dinner:**

Ravi and I stayed in the garage apartment until like 7:00pm. We were making our new (temporary) home more comfortable and more like us. We celebrated Christmas, we just did it differently. Ruthie came up when it was time for dinner to get us. She a looked a little excited and yet a little nervous.

Ravi was wearing his best suit and I was wearing my best dress. It was the dress my father had picked out for my 'coming of age' party. For the Jewish religion, males have a Bar Mitzvah when they turn thirteen. Because my father and I didn't have a set religion, my 'coming of age' party consisted of every religion and custom we had ever come across. All the people that came had come from all over the world. My dress was of the Indian and Pakistan culture. It was dark pink for the skirt with a light pink top that had jewels sewn onto both the sleeves and neckline of my top and the hem and seam lines of my skirt. I had two different Saris', one was maroon with gold and silver threads bordering the hem and ruby's sewn into the middle of the white gold flowers. The second was a light blue with gold and silver flowers woven on it with crystals in the middle of the flowers. There was also gold coiled thread sewn around the hem of the Sari.

Ruthie was surprised to see us dressed so elegantly. Apparently nobody dressed like that around here. Here hair was as curly as it had been this afternoon; the only difference was that now it was in a ponytail. She smiled at us as we moved towards her. My skirt jingled from the bells that I had personally sewn onto it to make it more me.

"You know, none of us are as dressed up as you are."

"Yes, well, we like to represent ourselves at every holiday that we celebrate."

"How many holidays do you celebrate?"

"We celebrate every holiday in every religion we've ever come across. And that goes for the customs too. My father and I don't have a preferred religion, but Ravi is Hindu so he celebrates mostly the Hindu religion. I've adopted the Hindu religion as one of my many religions, but I still like to celebrate other religions as well." _I said._

"Hmm…very interesting. What was your favorite place to live?"_ Ruthie asked as we walked down the stairs from the garage apartment and towards the house. Selna was in my arms and Solon was with Ravi._  
"My favorite place that my father and I ever lived would have to be Inhambane, Mozambique. My father still lives there and makes sure that the guest house is open whenever we go visit. We haven't been back lately but we plan on going back soon. My father's new wife is about to have a baby and we wanted to be there for her."

"Your father just got remarried?" _Kevin asked as we walked in the back door._

"No, this is his sixth wife. In Inhambane, Mozambique, you can have as many wives as you want. And normally if the husband and wife get divorced, the husband keeps everything plus the kids. But my father has only been divorced twice and I was the only child he kept. He has shared custody with the mother of my sixteen-year-old half brother and sister. They're twins and twins are considered a blessing to most families."

"You look beautiful. You'll have to show us how to beautify ourselves without any hassle. How long did it take you to get ready?" _Lucy asked._

"Only about thirty minutes. But I've been dressing in different cultural clothes since I was six-years-old. When I went out to play with my friends, I wore whatever clothing was worn by the local people."

"Sounds like fun. Why don't we eat now?" _Annie said pushing everyone into the dinning room. As we moved, my skirt and Saris' jingled. The twins Sam and David were trying not to laugh._

Dinner went by fast and then it was time to read the 'Christmas Story' out of the bible. Ravi and I changed into our PJ's and sat with the rest of the family. A new day would bring Christmas and the rest of the year would bring things to do with my new siblings.


End file.
